Many organisations have developed policies committing themselves to ensuring that their activities related to natural resources – whether management, use or investment – are responsible or sustainable. However, while the principle is clear, it is often much less clear what this means in practice.

Sustainability is complex, requiring an appropriate balance of economic, social and environmental factors. Furthermore, different stakeholders often have different views on sustainability and what it means, making it a pre-requisite of success to communicate with a range of different groups.

ProForest a proven track record of active collaboration with organizations concerned about responsible production and resource conservation in the forestry and agricultural commodities sectors in both tropical and temperate contexts, and in supporting them in developing and implementing responsible resource management.

Sustainable Forest Management

• Meeting standards: We have an excellent track record of working with forest managers to improve forest management, and to address the environmental and social aspects of certification requirements.  In collaboration with the forest operation in question, we develop practical action plans based on a baseline analysis of current systems and actions.  We then work closely with the organization’s staff to make the changes necessary to meet the relevant certification standards.
• Training: We provide a range of training related to understanding and implementing sustainable forest management including understanding standards and certification schemes, auditing and high conservation value management. This includes in-house training and capacity building to ensure the long-term sustainability of changes and public training courses.

Sustainable management of agricultural commodities

• Meeting standards: There are now a number of standards which have been developed for different agricultural products including oil palm, soy and coffee. ProForest can work with producers to help them to understand and implement the requirements of a selected standard. This is often done via a baseline audit and development of an action plan.
• Training: We can provide a range of training related to understanding and implementing sustainability standards or responsible management. These can be brief introductions or more in depth training aimed at building local capacity to ensure the long-term sustainability of changes.
• Developing standards or criteria: though there are now a number of standards for agricultural crops, there are still a number of sectors where standards are still in preparation or no standard exists. Based on our wide experience with many different crops and production processes, ProForest can work with producers or consumers to develop an interim definition of responsible or sustainable production to be used to guide management. Once a set of criteria has been developed, we can work with producers to support implementation on the ground.

Conservation in a production context

As pressure on land increases, there is a growing need to plan conservation within a productive landscape. ProForest has wide experience of working with land-owners, managers, governments and NGOs to help guide this process, generally through the use of the HCV approach. This involves identifying the critical values which need to be protected, and then developing plans which integrate production and the conservation of these values.